Mandeep Raikhy is a dance practitioner with a particular interest in exploring the intersections between dance creation, performance, research and pedagogy. He began studying jazz at age 19 at the Danceworx, New Delhi, and his subsequent interest in contemporary dance took him to London where he completed a BA (Hons) in Dance Theatre at Laban. He undertook his first tour with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, London and toured with the company’s productions between 2005-09, including Exit No Exit and Faultline.  He was also part of the company’s education team.

Since 2010, Mandeep has created several dance works, notably Inhabited Geometry (2010), a male ant has straight antennae (2013) and Queen-size (2016) and Anatomy of Belief (2019). These works have travelled across the country and internationally over the years including Kampnagel, South Bank Centre, Singapore International Arts Festival, Theatre de la Ville and more. Produced by Sandbox Collective and supported by a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, the work Queen-size travelled extensively to over 30 cities across India along with a workshop focused on gender and sexuality in performance.

Since 2009, Mandeep has been Managing Director at Gati Dance Forum, where he has worked to develop a supportive environment for contemporary dance in the country through projects as diverse as residencies, festivals, publications and advocacy initiatives. Gati Dance Forum currently organizes an annual laboratory, which culminates in the generation of new writing coalesced around the body through an online journal, Indent: The Body and The Performative.

Mandeep currently teaches at Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) at its Masters in Performance Practice (Dance), the first of its kind in South Asia. He led the curriculum development process for this programme in various phases between 2013-16. With its integrative curriculum that includes physical training, choreography, critical thinking and inter-disciplinary studies, the programme is designed to equip its participants to redefine and rearticulate the boundaries of dance practice as performers, creators, researchers, pedagogues or managers through a critical engagement with the embodied cultures and the evolving dance ecology of the Indian subcontinent. More information on the masters programme is available here.

In addition to AUD, Mandeep has also been teaching regularly at various institutions such as Ashoka University, Shiv Nadar University and The Danceworx.

Mandeep has been invited as one of the curators for performance for Serendipity Arts Festival for its 2020 edition, for which he curated an inter-disciplinary laboratory titled The-Body-in-Movement.